Beans on Toast – 30/01/2019 – Clwb Ifor Bach

“If I ever get bored of doing this; shoot me.”

Jay McAllister, by the byname of Beans on Toast, proclaims following the performance of his ever-popular number “M. D. M. Amazing”.

Day one of the tour in support of the album A Bird in the Hand came to Cardiff’s Clwb Ifor Bach on a chilly Wednesday night, but not a snowy one. McAllister lamented the forecast as “utter bollocks” and had no problem warming up the crowd.

The set opened with song “Another Year”, the opening track of the latest LP: a song which touches on the recent birth of McAllister’s daughter, from whom A Bird in the Hand drew much inspiration.
Amongst the new tracks, there was a splattering of classic tunes, including: “The Chicken Song”, “The War on War” and “A Whole Lot of Loving”.

A highlighting performance was that of new song, “Bamboo toothbrush”, which touches upon the revolt against plastics and the hypocrisy of using so many things made of plastic, but people feeling as though they’re making a difference by purchasing a toothbrush made of bamboo. This point was emphasised by a man shouting from the crowd: “We’re all drinking from plastic cups!” Venues having a no glass policy, it turns out, is detrimental to the environment. However, Beans on Toast is doing his bit as 2% of profits made from the sale of his T-shirts, which funnily enough have trees on them, go to help planting more trees.

A post shared by Beans on Toast (@beans.on.toast) on Jan 31, 2019 at 6:02am PST

Along with some belters, McAllister didn’t hold back when it came to be critiquing current affairs, whether that be Trump, the news or Brexit. In fact, given Wetherspoons founder Tim Martin’s recent activities touring his pubs around the UK, persuading punters to get on board with Brexit, McAllister and his band have organised an embargo of Wetherspoons during this tour. He joked that it’s because he’s envious as he has always wanted to do a tour of ‘Spoons. If Brexit is getting you down, Beans on Toast will see you out of the blues.

If you can’t wait and need a laugh now, just ask Alexa to play Alexa by Beans on Toast.